I've been looking at the Smart car for some time and I had understood that
it was quite a bit cheaper than a Mini.  Visit www.smart.com, and when I
punch that I'm in Canada the base price comes up as $16,700.  Which is very
base compared to a Mini I think.  Maybe the price calculator isn't
country-sensitive?  Anyway all I know is Minis seem to go for about twice as
much as Smarts here, so I would expect that is the case down south as well.
But you never know.  There is a waiting list for Smart cars here.

And I agree about the Lupo!  Drove one in Europe last year and it was a
hoot.  Sure wish they were here.

Jeff

----- Original Message -----
From: "BenT Syncro" <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: Maybe now is the time to fill the tank of your extra car or
"parts vanagon"

On 9/1/05, Thomas Myers <thomas.myers@xerox.com> wrote:
>
> If there is an upside to the gas prices....[ but not the tragedy ]
>
> Maybe we will get access to more efficient cars...
>
> As recently as March � daimlerChrysler was still on the fence about
> bringing
>
> The Smart car to this county....

<SNIP>
 Tom,
 The Smart car is available for sale in this country via the gray-market. I
was in the San Francisco International Autoshow and saw them on the stands
of ZAPworld. See the article at:
 http://www.zapworld.com/about/news/news_smartepa.asp
 They were priced at about the price of the Mini. At those prices, the Mini
starts to sound like a much better bargain. However, they are more practical
if the local authorities will allow them to park in half a space or straight
into the curb. Otherwise, they are only marginally advantageous in city
driving.
 I would never buy one to replace my Vanagon but would be a nice supplement.
Worth the $17K base model price? Not IMHO. Maybe Daimler-Chrysler bringing
them in will reel in the prices much as when Daimler did the same thing to
G-wagen prices.
 BenT